Used plastic pallets in Tennessee

Where Tennessee's pallet work sits

Warehousing and storage in Tennessee employed 53,427 people at 642 sites in 2025, an average of 83.2 per site, by the BLS count of private employers.

• Shelby County: 11,727 warehousing jobs, 22% of Tennessee and 0.62% of the country, 1.2 times Wilson County.
• Wilson County: 9,641 warehousing jobs, 18% of Tennessee and 0.51% of the country, 82% of the size of Shelby County.
• Rutherford County: 5,778 warehousing jobs, 11% of Tennessee and 0.30% of the country, 49% of the size of Shelby County.

Tennessee against the country

Each line is Tennessee's private-sector figure beside the national total, with the share it makes up and, where the data allows, its rank among the fifty states.

What the ratios say

The BLS withholds counties where a figure would identify one employer, which means the 3 counties shown for Tennessee understate what the state holds.

• The three largest warehousing counties hold 51% of Tennessee's jobs in the line.
• Size of site: 83.2 jobs in the typical Tennessee warehouse, more than the 81.5 found across the country (2 percent more).
• Food manufacturing employs 0.75 people for every warehousing job in Tennessee; across the US the ratio is 0.93.
• Tennessee holds 2.3% of the nation's food manufacturing jobs and 2.8% of its warehousing jobs, so food is the lighter of the two lines here.
• Pharmaceutical manufacturing adds 3,015 jobs, 0.86% of the US total.
• Motor vehicle assembly accounts for 19,453 jobs in Tennessee, 6.7% of the US total, with another 38,791 in parts.
• Refrigerated space works out at 1,273 cubic feet for every warehousing job, against 2,098 nationally.
• The 3 metros below account for 92% of the state's warehousing jobs, counting disclosed counties only.
• Shelby County's 11,727 warehousing jobs are more than the whole state total of 14 other states, the largest being Nebraska at 8,246.
• Massachusetts runs warehouses of nearly the same size, at 83.4 jobs per establishment against 83.2 here.
• For food manufacturing, Washington is the closest match at 39,687 jobs, 633 below Tennessee's 40,320.
• The smallest county the BLS shows for Tennessee is Rutherford County with 5,778 jobs; the largest has 2.0 times as many.
• If warehousing jobs were split evenly across 50 states, each would hold 2.0% of the total; Tennessee holds 2.81%, which is 1.41 times an even share.
• North Carolina sits above Tennessee with 1,124 more warehousing jobs, and Arizona sits below with 1,373 fewer.

Where Tennessee ranks

Tennessee and the 11 states above it hold 64% of the country's 1,901,976 warehousing jobs between them. The median state has 23,211, so Tennessee is 30,217 jobs above it; California, the largest, has 236,923, or 4 times as many.

Industries that use pallets in Tennessee

The line that stands out in Tennessee is motor vehicle parts manufacturing, 3.5 times as concentrated as it is across the US. Automotive plants reuse pallets in a loop and load them heavily, so ask for static and dynamic ratings and for one maker.

• Motor vehicle parts manufacturing: 38,791 jobs in Tennessee, 7.4% of the 521,212 across the US, or 0.73 for every warehousing job in the state.
• Motor vehicle manufacturing: 19,453 jobs in Tennessee, 6.7% of the 288,633 across the US, or 0.36 for every warehousing job in the state.
• Chemical manufacturing: 27,214 jobs in Tennessee, 3.0% of the 892,426 across the US, or 0.51 for every warehousing job in the state.
• Warehousing and storage: 53,427 jobs in Tennessee, 2.8% of the 1,901,976 across the US, or 1.00 for every warehousing job in the state.

The ladder around Tennessee

At 12th of 50 states by warehousing jobs, Tennessee has these neighbours in the ranking, two above and two below.

Metros we list in Tennessee

3 metros in Tennessee have a page with ZIPs, counties and corridors.

Training the dock crew

• Show new staff three pallets: one acceptable, one marginal, one rejected.
• Agree on words for faults, such as crack, gouge, bow and dish, and use them.
• Tell people to stop and ask when a pallet carries any mark they do not recognise.
• Remind drivers to enter pockets squarely, since angled entry splits the pocket wall.
• Walk the dock together once a month and compare notes.

What to put on a request from Tennessee

USDA counted 68 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse space in Tennessee on 1 October 2025, 19th among the states; ask the maker how a pallet behaves frozen.

• Footprint: 48 x 45 in to match heavy-duty bulk containers
• Grade: a uniform closed-loop lot
• Quantity: a band, from a few pallet-loads to a truck
• ZIP: the Tennessee receiving ZIP

Other states

• Alaska
• Arkansas
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Kansas
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Nevada
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Vermont
• West Virginia

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